Avatar Animation Files
There are several versions of Avatar animation files found below. All of them have been built for use in 3DS MAX.
RiggedAvatarMASTER.zip
FemaleAction.ZIP
MaleAction.ZIP
CooperativeAnimation.ZIP
Biped Animation Rig
Biped example 01
Biped example 02
Biped example 03
Biped example 04
Biped example 05
It is important to know that both Male and Female avatars use the same skeleton. Therefore, animations will work for both products 80 (the female avatar) and 191 (the male avatar). This is why we only include one mesh version for some of our animation files – as it really doesn’t matter to the final animation. It only helps to have the Male geometry when making Male specific animations (like Idles) but we offer the file anyway. To reiterate, though, any animation you build on the avatar skeleton can be used for both Male and Female avatars.
Rigged Avatar
The first of the animation files, the Rigged Avatar is arguably the easiest to use as all of the inverse kinematics have been worked out. To get this file to work, follow the directions found in the read me file in the ZIP for installing the Joystick manipulator to MAX.
The rigged avatar will only work in 3DS MAX 7.
To activate the Joystick controls in MAX, activate the ‘Select and Manipulate’ tool.
Rigged Avatar file details
To learn more about the Rigged Avatar file, please go to the incredibly fantabulous Rigged Avatar tutorial.
Female Action.ZIP and MaleAction.ZIP
While most animations are achievable with the Rigged Avatar file above, you might find yourself unable to get exactly the animation you want. If so, you can just use FemaleAction.ZIP or MaleAction.ZIP.
These contain no IK linking and so are a little harder to animate with. That said, they are more flexible than the avatar rig. Applying motion capture to these files is not as easy as the Bipeds listed below but should be fairly straightforward.
Bipeds
Last but not least are the Biped rigs. These files are useful for applying motion capture data.
However, these have been handy only for a select few individuals. As IMVU does not use these files internally, we highly recommend using the other avatar files above for building your animations. New Actions
If you’re interested in learning how to get a new avatar Actions to show up in your product, please read the Avatar Actions Tutorial and the Previewer = Actions Tab Tutorial.